Thousands of demonstrators participating in a rally against interim President Michel Temer in Sao Paulo, Brazil

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Russia does not intend to interfere in the situation in Brazil where President Dilma Rousseff was suspended from office, Director of the Latin American Department at Russia’s Foreign Ministry Alexander Shchetinin told TASS on Monday.

“Undoubtedly, we don’t have any intentions to interfere in the situation in Brazil,” he said.

“We’re closely watching the situation. We consider it necessary that all the complex and dramatic processes taking place in that country should proceed exclusively in the constitutional field, with the observance of internal legal norms stipulated by the national legislation,” the Russian diplomat said.

“We proceed from the fact that these processes should proceed without any destructive interference from outside,” he noted.

“We expect that the course towards the development of friendly relations between Russia and the Federative Republic of Brazil will be continued,” the Russian diplomat said.

“We proceed from the fact that this course enjoys the support of the broad layers of the political elite and the political establishment of Brazil – both those who support the course of Rousseff and those who support acting President Michel Temer who headed the high-level commission for cooperation between Russia and Brazil in the capacity of the vice-president,” Shchetinin said.

As the Russian diplomat said, “all the members of the international community should display tact and delicacy so that Brazilians should have a possibility to decide their internal affairs independently, without hounding or instigation, without provocations of various sorts of emotional outbursts in the streets.”

“The situation is very hot,” Shchetinin said.

“The main thing is that Brazil should be preserved and should develop as one of the most important participants of the Latin American community and the international community as a whole,” the Russian diplomat said.

The Federal Senate, the upper house of Brazil’s parliament, voted on May 12 to continue the procedure of Rousseff’s impeachment. The motion was supported by 55 senators while 22 votes were cast against the impeachment procedure.

As a result, Rousseff was suspended from office while her duties have been assumed by Vice-President Michel Temer.

Over the period of not more than 180 days, the Brazilian senators should study the accusations brought against Rousseff by the initiators of the impeachment process.

If the members of the upper house of Brazil’s parliament do not agree with these arguments, Rousseff will return to the performance of her duties. Otherwise, Temer will remain as the head of state until the 2018 elections. At least two-thirds of senators need to support the impeachment procedure to finally remove Rousseff from office.